New York has used billions of tons of roadsalt to melt winter snow over the past decade.Can it reach glaciers?

Question

Although the waters are already polluted, it would not be unreasonable to assume plumes could develop traveling long distances. Scientists vastly underestimated melting rates due to some factor or factors not taken into consideration in a general global warming/blanket model. The substantial runoff from applications such as the 200 million tons in a few days after the big storm a few years ago would likely be warmer than the ocean water, potentially allowing it to leave the local vicinity with moderate dilution.

Answer 1

The amount of salt put on the roads is negligible compared to the amount of salt in the sea.

Where problems arise is contamination of land. Most plants don't like to grow in salty earth.

Answer 2

Um.....  Aren't glaciers in contact with the oceans which are salt water to begin with?  I imagine that the amount of salt used to melt snow is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of salt in the ocean.  (Oceans are pretty big).

Answer 3

roadsalt is made of MgCl2 NaCl and sand(for traction) - mgcl2 releases a small amount of heat when dissolved in water, but the oceans already contain a high concentration of mgcl2 (as mg 2+ and cl - )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater#Sa...